I've begun asking local theaters what framerate they will show The Hobbit in. Here are two chains responses. I'm located in Omaha, Nebraska. I'd be curious if other people could contact their local theaters and post the responses.

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Dallas-based Rave Cinemas, LLC, the United States’ fifth-largest theater exhibition chain: "Thank you for your interest in the Hobbit at the Westroads. We are currently scheduled to run the movie in the normal 24 fps. Although we will do our best to show the feature at the higher frame rate, I can make no promises at this time that we will be able to show it in 48 fps."

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Marcus Theatres operates movie theatres in seven states. "That is unknown at the time. I suspect this information will not be finalized until closer to when the movie is scheduled for presale. It is my understanding that only a limited number of theatres will be given the 48fps prints nationwide (at this time, the number is about 400, but may change closer to the release). Whichever theatres are chosen, our theatres will be ready to play the higher rate."

I asked the local Cinemark in the Woodlands, TX if they were going to show the Hobbit in all 3 formats... 48fps, 4k, and 3d... My response was...

"Dear Valued Customer, Thank you for your interest in the upgrade that will be happening in our XD auditorium this year. We will have all three upgrades in our XD auditorium by the time "The Hobbit " comes out in December. The upgrades will only be in the XD auditorium.

Tickets have not gone on sale for this movie yet, but I expect to have the information soon so they can be published to the public.

"Yes the “Hobbit” was filmed with 48fps. Our corporate office is working with WB on what locations and how many we are going to upgrade. We will know more in the next few weeks. If you have any further questions please let me know."

It's two months from release date and none of these major US chains could confirm they will have The Hobbit at 48fps:

Rave Cinemas Marcus Theatres Cinemark AMC Theatres

Wide release means a movie opens in 600 theaters or more. The recent Amazing Spider-Man movie opened in 4,318 screens. The Dark Knight Rises opened on 4,404 screens. If The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 48fps version opens in only 400 theatres, it seems to reason that at least that version is a limited release. You may not be able to see it.

Every news and entertainment organization covered Peter Jackson's announcement of 48fps. If no theaters will be showing it in that framerate -- and none are committed less than two months from the opening date -- then that's an entertainment headline, in my opinion. It was news when George Lucas tried to get theaters to convert to digital.

I tried contacting CNN to see if they think it could be a news article. Their website CNN.com is awful and I couldn't get through the Contact Us > Story ideas webform. So I tried calling the number. The woman almost hung up on me in the first sentence. When I tried to give her more information, like who I contacted and who wrote their original article, she kept saying a bored 'thanks' and tried to hang up. I give up on CNN. I guess "entertainment news" has to have the word "Kardashian" in it.

Hollywood Reporter confirms only 10% of screens will have 48fps
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Jackson says the new look just takes some getting used to, but the studio is releasing that version of the film only on about 400 well-equipped theaters (out of about 4,000), where it can be pitched as a premium offering.

Unfortunately we do not have any information at this time regarding different formats of the Hobbit, or when tickets will go on sale. I would expect this all to be worked out shortly, and for tickets to be on sale soon, but I have not heard a date yet. It is my understanding that the 48fps will require some sort of hardware upgrade to our projectors, so I don’t know if our company will be doing that in certain locations only, or everywhere, or not at all. Check back with us in a couple weeks and hopefully I will have more information by then. Thanks!

I've heard back from another local cinema, who have been much more helpful. They again can't tell me when tickets will be available or whether there will be a midnight showing. 2 of their projectors are 4k projectors (which is promising) but I was advised to contact the distributor regarding if the film will be shown at 48fps.